John A. Chionchio leads Ballard Spahr's Mechanical and Medical Technologies Patent Team. He focuses his practice on intellectual property matters related to the mechanical and design arts.
With 15 years of experience in engineering and more than 20 years of experience as a patent attorney, he is well versed in the areas of dynamics of aircraft and spacecraft structures, guidance and control systems, scientific instruments, complex machine design, and optics. John drafts and prosecutes patents for couplings, seals, valves, fire suppression systems, firearms, scientific instruments such as mass spectrometers and chromatographs, and aerospace applications such as aerodynamic refinements for helicopters. His experience also encompasses software-related patents for control systems as well as industrial processes. John has experience with medical device patents in the areas of stents, stent grafts, medicament inhalers, dental drills, and orthopedic screws.
John also has considerable experience in the preparation and prosecution of design patents in a variety of fields including jewelry, eyewear, bottles and other containers, cookware, apparel, decorative scent diffusers, computer screen icons, and medical devices. He also provides counsel in design patent litigation matters and supervises an extensive international portfolio of design patents and registrations.
John has significant experience in managing an extensive intellectual property docket that includes U.S., international, and foreign national patent applications. He works closely with European and Asian associates in the prosecution of U.S. and foreign patent applications.
A licensed professional engineer, he held engineering positions with General Electric's Space Systems Division, RCA Astro Electronics, and Thyssen AG before entering private practice. He has lived and worked in Germany, and he holds a private pilot's license with a glider rating.